CURVE, Pa. – Barrett Barnes and Erich Weiss both left the ballpark for the Altoona Curve in a 7-2 win against the Reading Fightin Phils on Friday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
Barnes’ blast, his third of the year, came in the bottom of the fifth inning against Reading starter Mark Leiter (Loss, 5-2) with two out and one on to extend the Curve lead to 5-1.
Altoona (65-52) had a new single-season franchise record set when Elvis Escobar tripled in the third inning, setting a new mark for most triples in a Curve season at 51.
Reading (77-40) dropped just its second game of the season to Altoona.
Weiss’ two-run shot came in the bottom of the sixth inning against Fightins reliever Mario Hollands and gave the Curve a 7-1 lead.
Jared Lakind struck out the side in the eighth inning for the Curve but allowed a Mitch Walding home run in the ninth inning to bring the Fightins within 7-2 before retiring the final two batters of the game.
Walding gave Reading the first lead of the ball game when he grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice in the second to make it a 1-0 game.
Clay Holmes (Win, 10-7) did not allow a run after the second, finishing his night after six innings of work and five scattered hits. Holmes also walked one and struck out seven as he became the first Curve pitcher this season to win ten games.
Altoona tied the game at 1-1 in the third on a Weiss RBI single following Escobar’s record-setting triple.
The Curve took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a Chris Stewart RBI single and a throwing error from Fightins catcher Jorge Alfaro on a Clay Holmes bunt allowed Barnes to score to give the Curve a 3-1 lead.
In his first game with the Curve on Major League rehab assignment, Stewart went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk.
The Curve and Fightin Phils will play the second game of a three-game series on Saturday at 6 p.m. Altoona southpaw Cody Dickson (9-4, 3.91) gets the start against Reading right-hander Ricardo Pinto (4-4, 4.18).
Saturday is Deaf Awareness Night at the ballpark as well as Scout Night. There will also be a spectacular post-game fireworks show. For tickets and more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office.
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